EU flag lowered at UK mission in Brussels

The EU flag has been lowered at the UK’s permanent diplomatic mission in Brussels ahead of Britain’s exit from the European Union at midnight CET tonight.

The Union Jack is expected to be lowered at the European Parliament and Council uildings later on Friday, as Brexit supporters are due to celebrate in London.

Meanwhile, European leaders called for the EU to close ranks and become even more united as the UK officially leaves the bloc on Friday, with Ursula von der Leyen stressing that “strength does not lie in splendid isolation”.

During a joint press conference in Brussels on Friday, the head of three EU institutions primarily focused on the union’s future, seeking to dispel the idea that the UK’s departure has weakened the European project.

Not a happy moment

David Sassoli, the President of the EU parliament, opened the presser saying that that EU “have done everything to make UK citizens understand the gravity of their decision”.

He said that “this day will be marked in history”, while Charles Michel, the head of the EU Council, called it an “exceptional day for the EU”.

“It’s never a happy moment when someone leaves,” Michel continued, reaffirming the bloc’s commitment to “have our relationship with the UK be as close as possible”.

He then focused on the union’s future saying: “we will devote all our energy in building a stronger and more ambitious union”.

Von der Leyen, the head of the Commission, also stressed that the EU is firmly looking towards the future and committed to strengthening its influence.

“When the UK joined, I was still at school, we were still six member states, tomorrow we will be 27 member states,” she said.

“Strength does not lie in splendid isolation but in our unique union.

“Let there be no doubt the challenges Europe faces or the opportunities that it can grasp, have not changed because of Brexit,” she emphasised. The EU, she added, will seek to take a more leading role worldwide on issues ranging from digitalisation to climate change.

‘We need to get down to business’

Earlier in the morning, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Brexit was bittersweet but that it provided the EU with “an opportunity to remember what a united Europe stands for.”

“Today we are grateful to the European member states for their solidarity and support during the recent Brexit negotiations. It is proof of why small countries benefit from membership of the EU,” he went on.

He referenced ‘Ode to Joy’, the European anthem, and reflected upon the issue of transcending frailties in order to achieve greater things.

‘We need to get down to business,” Varadkar stated referring to a future trade deal with the UK, adding that “there will be checks as things cannot be as they were before.”

“I am ambitious about the future EU/UK relationship but I also think we think to be realistic about the dangers. We need to start a new relationship between the EU and the UK on a firm and honest footing. And that means a level playing field,” he added.

‘Renewal and change’

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will mark Brexit Day with a cabinet meeting in Sunderland, the north-eastern English city which was the first to declare support for leaving the EU in the 2016 referendum.

In an address to the nation scheduled for 23:00 CET (10 p.m. UK time) — an hour before the country officially leaves the bloc — he is also expected to hail the exit as a historic opportunity as well as “a moment of real national renewal and change”.

“This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act,” he will say, adding that the government will aim to unleash the country’s full potential and “level up” the different regions.

But his calls for the British Union to mend the divisions created by Brexit appear to have fallen on deaf ears in Scotland.

In a speech in Edinburgh on Friday morning, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will stress that the country has a “cast-iron democratic mandate for an independence referendum” because it overwhelmingly backed to remain in the EU in the 2016 vote.

“Nothing could more starkly demonstrate how our nation’s needs are no longer served by a broken, discredited Westminster union. But there is the prospect of a brighter, better future as an equal, independent European nation,” she will say, according to pre-release excerpts of her address.